The International Agricultural Club, IAAS, is spreading its roots at Auburn. The group meets in Comer Hall twice a month, for approximately an hour each meeting.
"The purpose is to promote awareness, participation and activity in international agriculture," said Joseph Molnar, director of the office of international agriculture. "There are chapters all over the world."
The group is still growing at Auburn, and they are looking for new members. Courtney Halterman, junior in pre-veterinary animal sciences, is the president of the club.
"The big thing about IAAS right now is that we're pushing membership and pushing people to be involved in IAAS," Halterman said. "A lot of people are more driven by the fact we offer a spring break trip."
IAAS offers a spring break trip for members to go to Lima, Peru, for eight days. Lima is the location of the International Potato Center.
During the trip, the group will also spend time at Machu Picchu.
Halterman said they will visit different small production farms, and have time to tour the area.
Halterman also said club doesn't just participate in activities abroad.
"We do a lot of stuff on campus," Halterman said. "Service projects to give back locally to Auburn and Alabama."
The club is working in partnership with Walgreens and their "Get a Shot. Give a Shot." campaign.
"In November we're doing a flu shot drive," Halterman said. "For every shot a student at Auburn is going to get, a child in a developing country will also receive a vaccination."
Molnar said they will have speakers and visitors come from different places throughout the year, from countries as far as China.
Halterman said a big part of being in the club is global networking.
"The more people you know and the more connections you can make, the more professional relationships you build," Halterman said. "I think networking globally in agriculture, as a whole, is huge."
Sidney Hancock, sophomore in horticulture, fruit and vegetable production, said she has met a lot of professors outside of her classes through the club, including the dean of agriculture.
"If you're applying to veterinary school, you're going to be able to apply to that school and know professors, and even possibly people on the board that are going to be considering you," Hancock said. "The fact they can put a face to the name is awesome."
Halterman said she has also met many great advisors and professors from other land-grant universities in the U.S. that have given her advice for applying to veterinary school.
She said she enjoys getting to meet a lot of international students and faculty, and learning about how their agricultural practices are different.
"International experience is really important, employers look at that," Hancock said. "They're really impressed by international experience, that you've been places, you've learned new things about different cultures, you've gone outside of the classroom and you've made the effort to make things happen."
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